Outdoors

More than 50 proposals are being considered for Washington’s hunting seasons and regulations in upcoming years, including a requirement that bear hunters be tested on knowing the difference between black bears and grizzlies.

In the face of a dismal steelhead run, Idaho on Monday canceled its harvest season this fall and will allow only catch-and-release steelhead fishing. Washington is expected to announce similarly restrictive measures in the coming days, likely marking the first time in decades that catch-and-keep steelhead fishing will not be allowed on the Snake River and its tributaries.

Most Spokane River rainbow taken recently have either been on the dropper below a hopper/Chernobyl or on the nymph rig. There doesn’t appear to be rhyme or reason to which nymph will work on a given day.

An aggressive mountain goat was shot and killed by a hiker in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness last month bringing new concerns about the threats that outdoor recreation poses to the normally docile white ghosts of rocky peaks. A woman from Lincoln County, Montana, shot the nanny with a .357-caliber handgun on July 19 at the top of a switchback on a narrow, cliffy section of the trail to Leigh Lake.

OUTDOORS – Four local women with wide-ranging experience in the great outdoors will join for a panel presentation on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Bowl and Pitcher amphitheater at Riverside State Park. The “Women in the Wilderness” panel is the latest in the summer-long Wednesdays in the Woods presentations organized by REI.

Cycling on the Palouse can feel a little like an epic adventure at sea. Giant, wheat-covered hillsides meet the skyline, looking like golden oceanic swells. You chug upward, cresting that massive wave, then plunge down the other side. Repeat, again and again.

The entire region remains blanketed under high temperatures and an air quality alert from the National Weather Service, but some relief may be in store from both the heat and smoke perhaps as early as Sunday from a front carrying showers and thunderstorms through the area.

Washington state agencies are looking into simplifying the quagmire of cards, stickers or vehicle mirror-hanger documents required for recreating on local, state and federal lands and perhaps even private timber lands.

I’d planned a July day hike with my dog along a North Idaho stream for a good dose of outdoor exercise and a cool respite from the summer heat. The bear spray I keep handy on my day pack saved me a lot of grief that day.